The NHL on ABC
The NHL on ABC is a former TV show that televised National Hockey League games on the American Broadcasting Company and was produced by ABC's corporate sibling (under the Walt Disney Company umbrella) ESPN. Before the 1992–93 NHL season In 1979, ABC was contracted to televise Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals. Since the Finals ended in 5 games, the contract was void. Had there been a Game 7, then Al Michaels (play-by-play), Jim McKay (anchor, under the Wide World of Sports umbrella), Bobby Clarke (color commentator), and Frank Gifford (reporter) would've called it. This would have given Michaels the distinction of calling all four major North American sports championships, having since called the Super Bowl, World Series, and NBA Finals. 1992–1994 version In the 1992–93 and 1993–94 seasons, ABC televised 6 weekly regional telecasts on Sunday afternoons beginning in March (or the last 3 Sunday of the regular season). This marked the first time that regular season broadcasts of National Hockey League games were aired on American network television since 1974–75 (when NBC was the NHL's American broadcast television partner). ABC would then televise 3 weeks worth of playoff games (or the first 3 Sundays of the playoffs). They didn't televise the Stanley Cup Finals which instead, were televised nationally by ESPN and by Prime Ticket in Los Angeles (1993) and MSG Network in New York (1994). Games televised on ABC were not subject to blackout. These broadcasts (just as the case was with the 1999–2000–2003–04 package) were essentially, time buys by ESPN. The main difference is that the graphics were ABC Sports' instead of the ones seen on ESPN National Hockey Night. In later years, the roles would be reversed as ESPN's graphical style would be used with the exception of intermission reports. ABC even used ESPN's theme music for the 1992–1994 coverage and get to televised the first 2 rounds of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. During ABC's next stint with the NHL, they had their own theme music (composed by Bob Christianson). Schedules 1993-94 Main article: 1993–94 NHL season April 17, 24, May 1: Playoffs Stanley Cup Playoff commentator crews 1993 1994 Announcers Studio host * John Saunders Broadcast teams 1992-93 #'Gary Thorne'-'Bill Clement' #Mike Emrick-Jim Schoenfeld/John Davidson #Al Michaels-John Davidson 1993-94 #'Gary Thorne'-'Bill Clement' #Tom Mees-Darren Pang/John Davidson #Bob Miller-John Davidson Ice level reporters * Al Morganti * Tom Mees * Bob Neumeier The NHL returns to ABC (1999–2004) In August 1998, ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 signed a 5-year television deal with the NHL, worth a total of approximately US$600,000,000 (120,000,000/year). The $120,000,000/year that ABC and ESPN paid for rights dwarfed the $5.5 million that the NHL received from American national broadcasts in the 1991–92 season.60 As previously mentioned, as was the case with the 1992-1994 deal, ABC's subsequent NHL coverage was in reality, made up of time–buys from ESPN. This was noted in copyright beds at the conclusion of the telecasts, i.e. "The preceding program has been paid for by ESPN, Inc." ESPN then signed a similar television rights contract in 2002 so it could produce and broadcast National Basketball Association games on ABC. This time around, ABC televised 4–5 weeks worth of regional games on Saturday afternoons beginning in January. ABC also televised the National Hockey League All-Star Game and Games 3–7 of the Stanley Cup Finals in prime time. In the league's previous broadcast television deal with Fox, the network split coverage of the Stanley Cup Finals with ESPN. Games 1, 5 and 7 were usually scheduled to be televised by Fox; Games 2, 3, 4 and 6 by ESPN. However from 1995 to 1998, the Finals were all 4 game sweeps; 1999 ended in 6 games. The consequence was that – except for 1995, when Fox did televise Game 4 – the decisive game was never on network television. 2003 was the only year that ABC broadcast both the NBA and the Stanley Cup Finals that involved teams from one city in the same year, as both the New Jersey Nets and the New Jersey Devils were in their respective league's finals. During ABC's broadcast of Game 3 between the San Antonio Spurs and the Nets in New Jersey on June 8, Brad Nessler, Tom Tolbert and Bill Walton said that ABC was in a unique situation getting ready for both that game and Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals between the Devils and the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim the following night, also at Continental Airlines Arena. Gary Thorne, Bill Clement and John Davidson mentioned this the following night, and thanked Nessler, Tolbert and Walton for promoting ABC's broadcast of Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals Following the 2003–04 season, ESPN was only willing to renew its contract for 2 additional years at $60,000,000/year. ABC refused to televise the Stanley Cup Finals in prime time, suggesting that the Finals games it would telecast be played on weekend afternoons (including a potential Game 7). Disney executives later conceded that they overpaid for the 1999–2004 deal, so the company's offer to renew the television rights was lower in 2004. Schedules 1999-2000 2000-01 : Main article: 2000–01 NHL season 2001-02 : Main article: 2001–02 NHL season 2002-03 2003-04 Stanley Cup Playoffs 2000–2004 Announcers Studio personalities * John Saunders (1993–94, 1999–2004) * John Davidson – studio analyst (1999–2002) * Barry Melrose – studio analyst (2003–04) Stanley Cup Finals personalities * John Saunders * Al Michaels (2000–2002) * Chris Berman (2003–2004) * John Davidson – studio analyst * Barry Melrose – studio analyst Broadcast teams #'Gary Thorne'-'Bill Clement'-'John Davidson' (2003–2004) #Steve Levy-Darren Pang #Mike Emrick-Barry Melrose/Brian Engblom #Dave Strader-Jim Schoenfeld Ice level reporters * Brian Engblom * Darren Pang * Joe Micheletti * Sam Ryan * Christine Simpson * Mickey Redmond * Tony Granato * Daryl Reaugh Stanley Cup Finals Ratings Regular season All-Star Game See also *The NHL on SportsChannel America *The NHL on NBC *The NHL on Versus *''Hockey Night in Canada'' *List of Stanley Cup Finals broadcasters External links *TV Theme - ABC, NHL.wav *ABC Sports announces its hockey broadcast teams *ABC's 2002-2003 NHL schedule *NHL, ESPN-ABC Seek Viewers *NHL's 1999-2000 Television Schedule Open this result in new window *OVERNIGHT TV RATINGS JUMP 60 PERCENT FOR NHL ON ABC *RGJ.com - ABC to add fifth day of NHL coverage in 2000-01 Category:ABC Sports Category:National Hockey League on television